THE FOUR PLANTS.

White Ribbon, Volume 18, Issue 212, 18 February 1913, Page 12

THE FOUR PLANTS.

An old teacher was once taking a walk through a forest with a scholar bv his side. The old man suddenly stopped and pointed to four plants close at hand. Th® first was just beginning to peep above the ground, and the s cr>nd had r< ote.l itself pretty well into the earth, the third was a small shrub, while the fourth and last was a full-si/ed tree. The tutor said to his voting companion : “Pull up the first.” *1 he boy easily pulled it up with his fingers. “Now pull up the second.” The youth obeyed, but not so easily. “And now the third.” The boy had to put forth all his strength and use both arms before he succeeded in uprooting it. “And now,” said the master, “try your hand upon the fourth.” But lo ! the trunk of the tall tree, grasped in the arms of the youth, hardly shook its leaves. “This, mv son, is just what happens with our bad habits. When they are voung we cast them out readilv, but only Divine power can uproot them when they are old.”